Anderson Silva's words not entirely lost in translation, says manager

You may not be hearing every word Anderson Silva says, but none of his words are purposefully hidden, according to his manager.

Ed Soares, Silva’s manager, has faced criticism for an apparent conflict of interest as the middleweight champion’s business representative and translator in the media. Some fans and media wonder if they’re getting the whole story in the pause between Silva’s Portuguese and Soares’ English.

“People are always saying I’m covering things up,” Soares told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) on Tuesday evening. “First of all, my job as a manager is to do the best that I can for my client. As far as translating everything he says, I do my best.”

Since he burst into the UFC in June 2006, Silva’s native tongue has been a challenge in an English-speaking promotion, particularly when controversy arises.

And lately, Silva is no stranger to controversy.

The issue came into sharp focus again when an angry Silva shouted at middleweight challenger Demian Maia inside the cage this past Saturday in the controversial main event of UFC 112.

At the post-event press conference, Silva met criticism with long answers in Portuguese. Soares’ translations were often markedly shorter.

Since the fight, many reports have issued their own translations about what was said inside the cage and after the fight. Some have hinted that the whole story was not told.

Soares did not hear what Silva said inside the cage, though he concedes Silva clowned the challenger’s jiu-jitsu skills. In between rounds, he picked out this phrase: “Não ‘tou achando a distância,” which means, “I’m not finding my distance.”

After the fight, Soares tried to convey Silva’s statements as best he could. But when the champion has a lot to say, it’s an issue of memory space.

“Let me ask you something: for the past 45 seconds can you tell me word-for-word what I just told you?” he asked. “The truth of the matter is I basically try to make a summary of [Silva’s statements]. I try to take what he’s saying and translate it to get point across.”

The switch doesn’t always work out perfectly when done on the fly.

“Do I miss some things?” Soares asked. “Yeah, I miss some things. I can’t say that it’s always exactly what he said. Sometimes I’ll present it in a way that it still has the same meaning. If you were to translate word-for-word verbatim to what he said, it wouldn’t translate. There’s a lot of things that just don’t translate, so I just kind of have to change it a little bit.”

The change, he said, is not influenced by his relationship with the champion. He’s not holding anything back to protect Silva’s image.

“I’m not changing it for any particular reason,” Soares said. “I’m not a professional translator. Sometimes it’s not word for word, but I can guarantee you that I try to summarize it as much as I can.

“There are some times where I forget to put things in. There’s a lot of times where I forget to put things in that I wish I wouldn’t have. I just forget, especially when he’s giving me a 30-second answer.”